Development Prospects of Precision Casting

What is precision casting?

Precision casting, also known as lost wax casting, produces precise, complex parts that are close to the desired shape and require little or no machining before use. Investment casting, also known as lost wax casting, is a common form of precision casting which involves melting a suitable investment material, such as wax, to create a mould. The process involves repeating the following steps: immersing the mould in refractory coating and sprinkling refractory sand on the investment to harden and dry the outer shell, melting the inner mould to create the cavity, baking the mould to obtain sufficient strength and burn off any remaining investment material, pouring in the metal material needed for precision casting, and cooling and solidifying the mould before removing it from the shell and cleaning off any sand to produce high-precision finished products. The process may also involve heat treatment, cold-working, and surface treatment depending on the product requirements.

Precision casting is an advanced technology in the casting industry that offers close-to-shape parts and superior machining capabilities, making it widely applicable. Not only is it suitable for casting various types and alloys, but it can also produce castings with higher dimensional accuracy and surface quality than other casting methods, even for complex, high-temperature-resistant and difficult-to-machine castings that cannot be cast using other methods.

Understanding the development advantages of precision casting

Compared to other casting methods, the main advantages of precision casting are as follows:

High dimensional accuracy and low surface roughness of castings, enabling the casting of complex shapes with general accuracy levels of 5-7 and roughness up to Ra25-6.3μm;

The casting of thin-walled and small castings, with the minimum wall thickness of investment castings reaching 0.5mm and weights down to a few grams, and the ability to cast intricate patterns, characters, grooves, and curved pores;

The shape of the investment casting is almost unrestricted, making it possible to produce parts with complex shapes that are difficult to manufacture by sand casting, forging, machining, etc., and even allowing some assemblies and welding parts to be directly cast as integral parts after slight structural improvements, thereby reducing part weight and production costs;

There are almost no limits to the types of alloys that can be cast, with common ones being alloy steel, carbon steel, and heat-resistant alloy castings;

There are no limits to batch production, with the ability to produce from single pieces to large quantities.

The disadvantage of this casting method is that it has a complex process and a long production cycle, and is not suitable for casting large parts with large contour dimensions.

Currently, investment casting technology is rapidly developing and has been widely used worldwide. From the current situation, the future development trend of the process is to make cast products closer and closer to parts.

Founded in 2008, Haiqiao (HQ) has grown steadily for nearly 20 years, starting out providing machining and investment casting parts for the Japanese market, and developed into a one-stop factory with a global outlook. We now offer design services, titanium materials, investment casting, machining, sheet metal products, and industrial equipment.